JE Englebert Makes Natural Transition Into Politics, via Naked Cowboy

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Grub Street readers are all too familiar with self-styled “nightlife lord” and Suzie Wong owner John “JE” Englebert. In various press releases, he has offered Lindsay Lohan $11,000 to shop with him, threatened to rip Ilan Hall’s head off, and threatened to sue over a McDonald’s in his condo. He also started New Yorkers Against Bottle Service (after which one of his promoters tried to sell us some bottles), and in his most recent misfire, he mistakenly claimed to be turning Tavern on the Green into a nightclub of sorts. At the same time, we’ve also been getting wacky press releases from the Naked Cowboy’s publicist — for instance the one with the subject line “Naked Cowboy Deeply Saddened” (after the deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett), and another one informing us that he’s running for mayor. So imagine our shock, on this slow news day, when the two forces collided in one explosive press release trumpeting the fact that “nightclub owner, promoter and marketing genius” (that’s right, marketing genius) Englebert has been asked to head up fund-raising events for the Naked Cowboy. Will Englebert sign on? Well, it all depends on meetings during which they’ll see if they can “come to a agreement [sic] and discuss ideas on tax breaks, tourism, homeland security and public transportation.” My, how we’d love to be a fly on that wall …